Reader Comments (11)

Mr. McClelland’s credit card company was calling yet again, wondering when it could expect the next installment on his delinquent account. He proposed paying half of his $5,486 balance and calling the matter even.

It’s a deal, the account representative immediately said, not even bothering to check with a supervisor.

Just as the ECB warns that commercial banks in the euro-zone may lose another $283bn by the end of next year on financial writedowns, Moody’s finds equivalent cause for concern at Switzerland’s most beleaguered bank, UBS.

The financial crisis is forcing Germany to abandon its post-war banking system. The EU is promoting the shake-up. "The German model of three pillars—private banks, co-operatives and [state-owned] savings banks—is outdated", Neelie Kroes, the EU competition commissioner, told a German newspaper recently. "It does not correspond to the role that the German economy plays and should play."

Hearing what Michael Lewis hays to say makes me sick to my stomach. He is right on all accounts, especially with regards to the phony stress tests. I understand why the banks want to hold onto the real smart criminals but making huge profits for being the toll booth collector of shady financial instruments and transactions is a joke. Getting the taxpayers to fund the retention bonuses is insane. Are these people really that smart or do they just have questionable morals and business ethics. We coexist with sharks at some of our beaches because they usually don’t come in to feed on the innocent beachgoers. But the sharks in the financial institution went on a feeding frenzy and there is so much blood in the water, it is time for action. It is time to find just as many shark hunters. Instead, the Fed, Obama, and the Treasury are chumming the waters for another day of feeding. Just when you, the average investor, think it is safe to go back in the financial water, the merciless rampaging thievery will with fancy math formulas will begin again.

Has the human being become so domesticated by episodes of Dancing with the Stars and air conditioned malls that we have forgotten that God made us humans to be capable of revenge against the culprits of this economic collapse? By seeking revenge, you teach people how to behave better and think twice before acting again in such a shameful manner. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Americans had a thirst for revenge. After 9-11, our justice was formed on our primal need for revenge. Bush stepped up to the podium and without a sad sack teleprompter, he said “my answer is bring ‘em on.” I felt a rush of relief and sense of ultimate justice after hearing him say this. Yes, he later said that he regretted saying that but we all know he was being a politician when he recanted that declaration. Now we face an even more devious and destructive force from within our own borders, the Bonnie and Clyde’s of Wall Street. If I were President, I would reach full employment by asking Joe the Plumber to build and operate the new prisons with gray pinstripe walls for Wall Street’s finest looters. Then I would go to their first, second, and third homes and take reparations to repay the taxpayers.

Hearing what Michael Lewis has to say makes me sick to my stomach. He is right on all accounts, especially with regards to the phony stress tests. I understand why the banks want to hold onto the real smart criminals but making huge profits for being the toll booth collector of shady financial instruments and transactions is a joke. Getting the taxpayers to fund the retention bonuses is insane. Are these people really that smart or do they just have questionable morals and business ethics. We coexist with sharks at some of our beaches because they usually don’t come in to feed on the innocent beachgoers. But the sharks in the financial institution went on a feeding frenzy and there is so much blood in the water, it is time for action. It is time to find just as many shark hunters. Instead, the Fed, Obama, and the Treasury are chumming the waters for another day of feeding. Just when you, the average investor, think it is safe to go back in the financial water, the merciless rampaging thievery will with fancy math formulas will begin again.

Has the human being become so domesticated by episodes of Dancing with the Stars and air conditioned malls that we have forgotten that God made us humans to be capable of revenge against the culprits of this economic collapse? By seeking revenge, you teach people how to behave better and think twice before acting again in such a shameful manner. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Americans had a thirst for revenge. After 9-11, our justice was formed on our primal need for revenge. Bush stepped up to the podium and without a sad sack teleprompter, he said “my answer is bring ‘em on.” I felt a rush of relief and sense of ultimate justice after hearing him say this. Yes, he later said that he regretted saying that but we all know he was being a politician when he recanted that declaration. Now we face an even more devious and destructive force from within our own borders, the Bonnie and Clyde’s of Wall Street. If I were President, I would reach full employment by asking Joe the Plumber to build and operate the new prisons with gray pinstripe walls for Wall Street’s finest looters. Then I would go to their first, second, and third homes and take reparations to repay the taxpayers.